Child marriage, educational attainment, and comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS: A multi-country analysis

Abstract

Understanding the link between HIV/AIDS knowledge and child marriage is important for designing and planning effective intervention programmes. Despite significant advances in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, it remains important to study the impact of child marriage on HIV/AIDS knowledge because HIV/AIDS continues to affect millions globally. This study investigated the association of child marriage with scores on an index measuring comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS transmission and prevention. Analysis was conducted on a sample of women aged 18-24 years, using nationally representative DHS household surveys from 18 countries. Findings indicate that there is no direct statistically significant effect of child marriage on women's comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS once controls for other factors affecting knowledge are included in the regression. However, the coefficients for educational attainment are statistically significant in most countries, at least when secondary or higher education is considered. This suggests that child marriage may affect knowledge about HIV/AIDS indirectly through its impact on educational attainment for girls who marry early.